Trip to Maryland

 I had a lovely time in Maryland seeing long-time friends, former colleagues, and family. Mary Marshall and I went to our parish retreat in Orkney Springs, VA over the weekend. Moody started this tradition 40 years ago and I was so glad to see it is still so popular. I attended choir practice at St. Andrew’s and was so impressed with the current music director and current singers. I was amazed at the number of people who recognized me while I was wearing my Covid mask.

There were lots of parties with various sets of friends. I especially enjoyed seeing cousin Deborah with brother John and Carol at the Jewel of India restaurant on Friday night. Saturday afternoon we celebrated my niece’s birthday at Catonsville Gourmet, a fabulous restaurant.

I even managed to get up to Bmo for dinner at The Helmand with Don and Millie. Yesterday I went to St. Andrew’s for church with Anna Jones and her younger daughters.

I got sad news on Sunday that my little Zoe died probably from esophageal cancer. Zelda died 2 years ago now they are both gone to glory. Watch this space for Halloween pics of my grandchildren in the next week.

Spring has sprung

 Novato is blooming all over though nights get down in the upper 30s, days are between 50-70s. Not much rain this year. I have gone hiking with the family several weekends. The boys have spent the night several weekends but now Lyle is in a soccer class Sunday mornings.  I had my first COVID jab 3 weeks ago, and the second a week from now.

Evvy is now almost 4 months old and is super sweet. Below are some pics including ceramic pea pods for Patti’s birthday, Hamantaschen cookies for Purim, lemon meringue pie, and Evvy’s 3 mos. picture.

Inauguration Day

 I can breathe again! What a wonderful inauguration for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris! Great speeches and poems and songs and fireworks....

I also have a new title : Senior Critic-at-large. I think they should change the name of The White House to something else, maybe Unity House or Presidential HQ.

Arlo and Lyle were here MLK Jr Day. The rest of the family came to retrieve them and had Burmese Beef and Cilantro Curry for dinner. It was a very warm day. I have been creating Spotify play lists and use then on my phone while walking my 2.5 miles every other day.

Here are my sea creature sugar cookies. Lyle had his 5th birthday January 15.

 

New Years Day Hike

 All 6 of us went on a nice 3-mile walk around the highest point in Novato, Mt Burrell.  Robert carried Evvy and the rest of us walked on our own. The previous day they all came to my house for a spaghetti dinner and to watch the ball drop in London. We were all happy to say goodbye to 2020.

The events of the following week were mind blowing: election of two democratic senators from Georgia, disgraceful storming of the US Capitol by extremist Trump supporters, and the final acceptance of the electoral college vote in favor of Biden. No longer can we claim non violent change of administration.

We’ll see if Trump is impeached and removed from office for sedition and rebellious attack on our government.

Lyle has returned to pre-k classes which he has very much missed. Arlo is still doing zoom school for the first grade. Robert is back to working from home and ML takes care of Evvy. I have rejoined my bible study class and trying to exercise more and take care of business (taxes, scrapbooks, investments etc.)

Christmas 2020

 We had a festive celebration for Christmas this year.  ML & family came by Christmas Eve for turkey dinner then I went to their house to spend the night and wait for Santa. The boys enjoyed all their toys as we enjoyed watching open their gifts and our gifts. We had a wonderful charcuterie spread for eats. Robert’s company sent yummy foods to everyone: smoked duck breast, pate, jamón, etc. 

Autumn

 The long Autumn of 2020 was spent in anticipation of two events: the presidential election and the birth of my third

grand baby. We all tried desperately to wear masks, stay outside and keep 6 feet apart, not to mention all the hand washing and hand sanitizer. This was not only to save our lives but to prevent exposing Mary Laurel to COVID-19 which might affect the developing fetus. I tracked infection rates in Marin County daily. The only place I went was the grocery store and occasionally to dinner at my friend, Bev’s who lives near me. Church became a weekly Zoom call, class reunions also turned to zoom for communication. A monthly Rhodes School (lux sit) alumni zoom was always informative.

As to the election, I was glued to TRMS and CNN and the PBS News Hour. Every atrocity committed by the Trumpsters was detailed. That with the horrendous lack of response by the federal government to the pandemic and then lack of concern for first-line workers made for a fair amount of cussing at the tv. I sent off checks the the Democrats and Elect Biden praying others would do the same and there would be a landslide vote for Biden and the Democrats would take the Senate. Not all of this was realized. The lack of concession by Trump to Biden and with Trumps firing heads of security and others at the Department of Defence and Voice of America communication chiefs, it felt like Trump was staging a coup. He replaced all the knowledgeable people with lackeys from congressional staff who believe in absurd conspiracy theories.  Trumps continued insistence that he actually won the vote has led to contributions of over $250 million to help fight the results. But the money is actually going into Trump’s pocket for the most part.

I spent a lot of time with Lyle during the day so Arlo could do his zoom school and ML could rest when she wasn’t working from home. Lyle and I made cakes and cookies, took walks and scoots, played tennis, and made art. When it got close to full term, I slept at their house until Thanksgiving week when I brought the boys to my house to stay since there was no school. Lucky I did because finally a week after due date baby wanted out. They rushed to the hospital and baby was born within 45 minutes. His name is Everett Jude Bilek-Burt and he is beautiful. He was 7 lbs & 15 ozs when born on 11/24/2020.

Below are some pics from the Fall of 2020.

Pandemic

Starting around March 11 I self isolated so as not to be exposed to COVID-19. The Bay Area closed down early with stay at home orders, going out only for groceries, medical care, and pharmacies. Essential service providers continued to go to work. We all wore masks and gloves, washed hands, and stayed 6 feet apart. I saw my family about once every 10 days in my patio or on their deck. I attended church services via Zoom. Below are some pics. It is now June 8 and the area is just starting to open up a little.